1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer systems, and more particularly to a method of accessing remote sites on a network such as the Internet, where the remote sites utilize user information such as user names, passwords, etc., for access.
2. Description of the Related Art
A generalized computing network 2 is shown in FIG. 1. Network 2 has several client workstations 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d which are interconnected via a communications infrastructure 4. Network 2 additionally has servers 5a, 5b. Each server is essentially a stand-alone computer system (having one or more processors, memory devices, and communications devices), but has been adapted to primarily provide information to individual users at client workstations 3a-3d. The information provided by a server can be in the form of programs which run locally on a given client, or in the form of data such as files used by other programs. Communications infrastructure 4 may include transmission media such as copper wires or optical fibers, along with interconnected routers, hubs and switches.
Clients 3a-3d can also be stand-alone computer systems (like personal computers, or PCs), or “dumber” systems adapted for limited use with network 2 (like network computers, or NCs). As used herein, “PC” generally refers to any multi-purpose computer adapted for use by one or more individuals, regardless of the manufacturer, hardware platform, operating system, etc. Network 2 thus offers client-server communications as well as peer-to-peer communications between different clients in real-time or by delayed file delivery. Other nodes can be included in network 2, such as a storage device 6.
The network can be local in nature, or can be further connected to other network systems (not shown). The construction of network 2 is also generally applicable to the Internet. Conventional protocols and services have been established for the Internet which allow the transfer of various types of information, including electronic mail, simple file transfers via FTP, remote computing via TELNET, “gopher” searching, Usenet newsgroups, and hypertext file delivery and multimedia streaming via the World Wide Web (WWW). A given server can be dedicated to performing one of these operations, or run multiple services. For example, mail servers (sending and receiving) can be used to facilitate the transmission of email. The Internet is becoming increasingly popular as the primary medium for both personal and commercial transactions.
Internet services are typically accessed by specifying a unique address, or universal resource locator (URL). The URL has two basic components, the protocol to be used, and the object pathname. For example, the URL “http://www.uspto.gov” (home page for the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office) specifies a hypertext transfer protocol (“http”) and a pathname of the server (“www.uspto.gov”). The server name is associated with a unique numeric value (a TCP/IP address/domain). For email (“mailto:” protocol), the address is composed of two parts, a user name and a server name separated by the commercial “at” symbol, e.g., “johndoe@mailserver.com”.
Various types of electronic documents can be transmitted on a network like the Internet. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a document creator at client workstation 3a uses an editor (e.g., an email composer) to draft a document such as an email 7. This email is then transmitted across the communications infrastructure 4 to the document recipient at client workstation 3b who views it with a document reader (e.g., an email viewer). FIG. 1 also depicts the delivery of a web page 8 from a remote web site hosted at server 5a to client workstation 3d. Web page 8 may be created using, e.g., a hypertext markup language (HTML) editor, and typically includes hypertext links for other web pages. A hypertext link is an image that is viewable on the workstation's display which can be selected by the user (e.g., using a pointing device or “mouse”) and which then automatically instructs the client workstation to request another page associated with that particular hypertext link (i.e., issue another URL). A hypertext link may appear as a picture, or as a word or sentence, possibly underlined or otherwise accentuated to indicate that it is an embedded link and not just normal, informative text. A WWW page may have text, graphic (still) images, and even multimedia objects such as sound recordings or moving video clips. A page may be larger than the physical size of the monitor screen, and techniques such as scroll bars are used by the viewing software (the web browser) to view different portions of the page.
Different user attributes or preferences can be utilized when accessing a remote web site. For example, many web sites now use small programs, called Java applets, to carry out certain functions (such as procedures that are local to the client workstation and do not require additional access to the remote site). While Java applets can greatly enhance the capabilities of a web page, they may also introduce security and other issues. Accordingly, many web browsers are configured to allow the user to globally enable or disable the use of Java routines. This capability can, however, create problems. A user may want to explore some new web sites and, in doing so, disable Java for security reasons, but when this user visits old, reliable sites that require Java, the web pages will not be properly presented unless the user manually edits the configuration to re-enable Java. If a user repeatedly visits several web sites where Java is to be disabled, but additionally repeatedly visits web sites requiring Java, it can become very cumbersome for the user to constantly change the Java preference back and forth.
Another attribute used by conventional web browsers is the so-called “magic cookie.” A cookie is an identification number or character sequence that resides locally on the client workstation but is used by the remote web site in creating a web page. When a web page is requested, the remote web site can examine the cookies to discern the user and employ previously selected options or preferences in presenting the web page. Cookies can, however, also raise security issues and may be undesirable in certain cases. Again, conventional web browsers can allow the user to globally enable or disable cookies, but the user must repeatedly change this setting for different web sites where cookies are acceptable or unacceptable.
Web browsers also allow the user to create an identity, e.g., with a username or email address, that is utilized by a remote site in accessing a web page. If a user wants to have different usernames or email addresses for different web sites, the identity information must be manually re-entered before visiting each site, which again is extremely inconvenient. For example, a user might prefer a personal email address for use with certain web sites, while preferring a work email address for other web sites, and preferring a fictitious email address for web sites that might abuse (spam) the user's email account.
In light of the foregoing, it would be desirable to devise an improved method of accessing remote sites such as web hosts which does not require the user to manually re-enter different attributes or preferences. It would be further advantageous if the method could easily allow the user to exert finer control of the privileges a remote site has.